The New York Giants made multiple additions to their passing attack on Monday when they came to terms on agreements with wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr., Braxton Berrios and JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Understandably, the Giants bringing Beckham back to what was his NFL
home from the 2014 draft through the 2018 season generated the bulk of the headlines related to the team’s moves. For a piece published on Tuesday morning, Giants reporter Dan Duggan of The Athletic detailed how Beckham’s Big Blue reunion came to be.
Odell Beckham Jr. made this “pitch” to the Giants
“Beckham has said all the right things in his many conversations with coach John Harbaugh,” Duggan wrote. “His pitch to the Giants has been that he only wants a chance to make the team so he can bring his career full circle. But there’s nothing Beckham can say to change the fact that he’ll immediately be back in the center of attention. That’s not often the case for a player vying to be the fifth or sixth wide receiver on the depth chart. That dynamic is the primary reason why it took the Giants so long to finalize this signing.”
Beckham didn’t hide throughout the spring that he wanted to return to the Giants, in part because he felt that he “left some things unfinished” with the club. Additionally, Harbaugh coached Beckham when the two were with the Baltimore Ravens during the 2023 season and reportedly “loves” the 33-year-old.
Will Odell Beckham Jr. have to earn a spot on the Giants’ active roster?
Beckham “looked quite good” while completing a workout with the Giants back in April and again on Monday. That said, ESPN’s Jordan Raanan noted that Beckham, Berrios and Smith-Schuster “were all signed to minimum deals” and “will have to earn their spots on the roster.”
That makes sense with Beckham, considering he hasn’t appeared in a regular-season contest since he tallied nine catches for 55 yards in nine appearances with the Miami Dolphins during the 2024 campaign. However, Duggan seems to think the Giants plan to have Beckham when they open the upcoming season with a home “Sunday Night Football” game versus the rival Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 13.
“The limited financial commitment removes any real risk for the team,” Duggan wrote. “However, it would be pointless to go through this extended process with the expectation that Beckham will be cut in three months.”
For now, Beckham will look to prove his current worth to Harbaugh and Co. from the start of training camp through the end of the preseason.
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